|
FOLLOWING the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) ruling
on meter- deposit refunds, the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco)
said Wednesday it will abide by the decision of the
regulatory body once it receives the resolution. The
refund order includes corresponding interest.
Jobert
Almazora, Meralco first vice president for customer
retail services, said that aside from the impending
refund, customers have been exempted from paying meter
deposits for years now. He said Meralco has ceased
charging for meter deposits since the Magna Carta for
residential electricity consumers and the Distribution
Services and Open Access Rules for nonresidential
customers were implemented in 2004 and 2006,
respectively.
As of
2007, Almazora noted that meter deposits total P2.8
billion—P1.5 billion in principal and P1.3 billion in
interest. “But this amount will still have to be
recomputed, since these are still based on last year’s
figures,” he added.
Per
Meralco’s financial statements, including all accounts
for meter and bill deposits that he said are audited by
independent auditor SGV&Co., Almazora said total meter
and bill deposits including accrued interest amounted to
P21.4 billion.
Meanwhile, Atty. Francis Juan, executive director of the
ERC, said unclaimed meter deposits will not go to the
distribution utilities (DUs). He said the ERC will ask
the Office of the Solicitor General to start exit
proceedings in order to forfeit the unclaimed deposits
to the state. Juan clarified that distribution
utilities will be the ones to determine which bank to
put the money in.
The ERC,
said Juan, will audit the implementation of the refund
to find out if there were earlier refunds that were not
given or not claimed.
“We will
find out which bank the DUs will choose for [the] escrow
account, and if ready, we can have the exit process
started,” said Juan.
Almazora
said the meter deposit was authorized under BOE Case
85-121 in 1985. It was deemed necessary and appropriate
then to guarantee against the loss of or damage to the
electric meter installed by the DUs at the premises of
the customer. This is why the then regulator Board of
Energy (BOE), in its decision in BOE Case 85-121,
believed that Meralco should be afforded some relief by
allowing it to impose and collect from new customers a
meter deposit for purposes of purchasing and installing
new meters or replacing defective meters. Only half of
the cost of the meter was requested as a meter deposit,
and this amount earned interest at rates specified by
the regulator. Other private distribution utilities
were, in fact, allowed to collect meter deposits ahead
of Meralco. |
